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Reversing hearing loss with regenerative therapy

Most of us know someone affected by hearing loss, but we may not fully appreciate the hardships that lack of hearing can bring. Hearing loss can lead to isolation, frustration, and a debilitating ringing in the ears known as tinnitus. It is also closely correlated with dementia. The biotechnology company Frequency Therapeutics is seeking to reverse hearing loss — not with hearing aids or implants, but with a new kind of regenerative therapy. The company uses small molecules to program progenitor cells, a descendant of stem cells in the inner ear, to create the tiny hair cells that allow us to hear.

Apr 8, 2022

What are stem cell transplants?

A stem cell transplant is when healthy stem cells are injected into a person’s bone marrow or blood. This can replenish stem cells when a person’s bone marrow has been damaged by chemotherapy, radiation, or a disease. When the healthy cells come from bone marrow, it is also known as a bone marrow transplant.

Apr 6, 2022

Stem-cell treatment may have cured woman of HIV

An HIV-positive woman who received a blood stem cell transplant to treat acute myeloid leukemia appears to have been cured of HIV. The stem cells, from umbilical cord blood, contained a gene variant that makes them resistant to HIV infection. The woman has been free of HIV for 14 months since the treatment. This finding could point toward a cure for HIV for some patients. A middle-aged, mixed-race, HIV-positive woman has been free of the virus since receiving a blood stem cell transplant for a different condition.

Apr 6, 2022

Discovery of sugar-coated RNA molecules opens up new area of cell biology

Cells in our body bristle with sugars known as glycans that other cells can recognize via specialized receptors. By attaching to and modifying proteins and fats, glycans influence how proteins fold, how cues are sent between cells, and other cell-to-cell interactions. As just one example of glycans’ importance, our blood types (A, B, O) depend on which sugars red blood cells incorporate into their protective coating.

Aug 9, 2021

‘Rejuvenating’ the Alzheimer’s brain

Alzheimer’s disease is the main cause of dementia and current therapeutic strategies cannot prevent, slow down or cure the pathology. The disease is characterized by memory loss, caused by the degeneration and death of n…

Aug 5, 2021

‘Rejuvenating’ the Alzheimer’s brain

Alzheimer's disease is the main cause of dementia and current therapeutic strategies cannot prevent, slow down or cure the pathology. The disease is characterized by memory loss, caused by the degeneration and death of neuronal cells in several regions of the brain, including the hippocampus. Researchers have identified a small molecule that can be used to rejuvenate the brain and counteract the memory loss.

Aug 5, 2021

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